Grain boundary engineered and bio-inspired nanomaterials

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The applicant is internationally recognized as a world leader in the areas of synthesis, structural characterization, property evaluation and commercial applications of nanostructured materials (metals, alloys, metal-matrix composites) made by electrodeposition. Over the past three decades his groundbreaking work has not only provided a solid fundamental understanding of the nanostructure electrodeposition process, and the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of fully dense nanomaterials, but also contributed to the first industrial applications of such materials in the world. Building on the knowledge base established over the past 30 years, the applicant' s research efforts over the next five years will focus on the next generation of nanostructures produced by electrochemical synthesis and other methods in two specific areas: grain boundary engineered materials from nanocrystalline precursors and moth eye/lotus leaf type bio-inspired nanostructured surfaces. Grain boundary engineered nanomaterials will be produced by controlled annealing of electrodeposited nanocrystalline metals and alloys to produce materials with very small grain size and high frequencies of degradation resistant grain boundaries. These materials are expected to exhibit outstanding mechanical, chemical and physical properties as compared with conventional materials. The focus of the bio-inspired materials will be to develop a template technology that can be used to produce polymer surfaces with nanostructure features similar to the structures found on some leaves or insect eyes. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop polymer surfaces with improved optical transparency, antireflection, superhydrophobic and selective diffraction properties.